Adding fuel to the controversy over the killing of tigress T1, a letter has surfaced in which a senior government veterinarian has accused an NGO of withholding information on T1's activity that could have helped the Forest Department tranquilise and trap her months ago. The letter, sourced under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, was written by Dr Sunil Bawiskar, the officer in charge of Maharajbag zoo in Nagpur. Dr Bawiskar had been roped in to help with the search for T1 between December 30, 2017, and January 6, 2018.

'Hiding data'
In his letter dated January 8, he alleged, "The NGO people were always hiding data from the authorised immobilization team regarding kill/ pugmarks/ scat/ call/ movement camera trap images, which are crucial for a successful immobilisation operation." He added that the NGO's sole goal seemed to be data collection and research, rather than rescuing the big cat. A copy of the letter has gone viral on social media, and while it does not mentions any specific NGO, activists suspect the letter points to the Wildlife Conservation Trust. The organisation has been helping the forest department in the camera trapping exercise at Pandharkawda.